The Supreme Court and the ACCESS Ukraine Project identified priorities for further cooperation on Ukraine’s path to EU membership

Representatives of the Supreme Court and the ACCESS Ukraine Project discussed further areas of cooperation within the framework of the European integration process and efforts to enhance the efficiency of the administration of justice in Ukraine.

The President of the Supreme Court, Stanislav Kravchenko, first expressed his gratitude to the people and the Government of Finland for their unwavering support of Ukraine during this exceptionally difficult period for the country. He emphasized that cooperation with European partners is of particular importance, as it enables the Ukrainian legal system to develop in close coordination with the European legal community.

Stanislav Kravchenko also noted that Ukraine’s judicial system faces challenges similar to those encountered by the judicial systems of most EU Member States. These include, in particular, the digitalisation of judicial proceedings, the improvement of case management mechanisms, and the safeguarding of judicial independence.

The President of the Supreme Court further outlined the specific challenges faced by Ukrainian courts in the context of the ongoing full-scale war. At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine is not postponing necessary reforms until the future but is implementing them consistently today. The Supreme Court is actively involved in this work and has been designated as the responsible institution for implementing 16 measures under the Rule of Law Roadmap.

Tuija Brax, Director of the Rule of Law Centre at the University of Helsinki, highlighted as a significant achievement the fact that Ukraine’s judicial system continues not only to function effectively under extraordinarily difficult circumstances but also to consistently implement reforms necessary to achieve the strategic objective of membership in the European Union. She also assured the participants that the ACCESS Ukraine Project would continue to provide the Ukrainian judiciary with the expert support it requires.

During the discussion of future areas of cooperation, the parties identified several key priorities, including support for Ukraine in the European integration process, improvement of cassation filtering mechanisms, disciplinary procedures and judicial selection procedures, as well as ensuring the consistency of judicial practice.

The meeting was also attended by Oleksandr Marchuk, President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court; Nataliia Antoniuk, Vice President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court; Rasim Babanly, Acting Chief of Staff of the Supreme Court; Stanislav Liachynskyi, Director of Democracy Reporting International in Ukraine; Svitlana Savchenko, Legal Projects Manager at DRI Ukraine; and Viktoriia Melnyk, European Integration Project Manager at the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform.